The Syrian government’s SANA news outlet reports that unspecified “popular forces” supporting dictator Bashar al-Assad have arrived in the northern province of Afrin, currently under invasion by the Turkish military.

Syrian Kurds have demanded the Turkish government be held responsible for a video surfacing showing Turkish-allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) combatants mutilating the body of a female Kurdish anti-jihadist fighter, stepping on her breasts, and taking selfies with her.

The pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported on Thursday that Syrian Kurdish fighters and Turkish soldiers traded “harassment” and “artillery fire” on the border of the two countries, a sign that the two sides may resort to openly attacking each other as tensions soar in the region.

Turkey’s National Defense Ministry claims that Secretary of Defense James Mattis has promised Ankara that American officials are only lending, not giving, weapons to Syrian Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State and plan to retrieve those weapons following the liberation of Raqqa.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım warned that his government would attack U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria if Ankara deemed it necessary, shortly before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his American counterpart Donald Trump in Washington.

In remarks Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted that he would personally demand President Donald Trump rescind his support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as Turkey’s “patience has ended” with the anti-Islamic State collaboration between the two.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that it had officially summoned the chargé d’affaires at the Russian embassy to protest an attack that left one Turkish soldier dead, killed by fighters allied to the Syrian People’s Democratic Union (PYD), which is allied with Russia.

The Turkish government has issued a warrant for the arrest of Salih Muslim, one of the leaders of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PYD’s military wings, the YPG and YPJ, are longtime American allies on the ground against the Islamic State in Syria.

Earlier this week, Turkey made a highly publicized demand for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) to retreat east of the Euphrates after successfully conquering territory from the Islamic State. The YPG agreed, but Turkish troops shelled YPG locations on Friday anyway.

American and other Western volunteers fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria recently told the Kurdish outlet Rudaw they were gearing up for a new offensive against the jihadists in the new year. One American volunteer recalled how thousands demanded photos with him on a routine visit to a mall in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Yazidi militias organized to fight the Islamic State in Sinjar, northern Iraq are protesting that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group operating out of Syria and Turkey, have prevented them from launching a mission to recapture Sinjar City after the terrorists stormed the region in 2014.

The White House had stern words for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) this week following the dramatic crackdown on a media conglomerate that temporarily shut down two newspapers and two television stations just days before the November 1 election.

The head of the Syrian rebel group the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front has announced in a video uploaded to YouTube that his group will “soon” announce a military offensive on Raqqa, the “capital” of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terrorist group.

A Kurdish man from the beleaguered Syrian border town of Kobani set himself on fire upon learning that his daughter had left home to join the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, the all-female YPJ, in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, reacted “positively” to the idea of working with some rebel groups in the region against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), particularly the Kurds.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG/YPJ–or People’s Protection Units–issued a statement on Monday condemning Turkish airstrikes on strategic Kurdish posts. The Turkish government announced a new campaign, accompanied by the United States, against the Islamic State in Syria, but the Kurds and anti-Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) Syrian militant claim they are the real targets of the campaign.

The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, has appeared to take the side of the Turkish government regarding recently launched airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), calling the U.S.-designated terrorist group “arrogant” and praising Turkey for taking a “positive” role in attempting peace talks with the PKK.